Baseball fans in college are shocked that their favorite sports hero Alex Rodriguez had admitted to using performance enhancing drugs while he was still with the Texas Rangers in 2001-2003. Apparently, the effects of the news had taken quite a while to ebb. A-Rod was just one of the 104 who were tested positive for steroids. There were 103 more to be revealed. Jose Canseco had already identified some in his book Juiced. Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens were some of those who had been named in the book.

From The Batt:

“A-Rod was one of those players that we all had no doubt that he wasn’t taking steroids,” said Texas A&M junior pitcher Travis Starling. “He was kind of the poster child of the perfect baseball player. He worked hard. He showed up every day and he played hard every day and he produced good numbers off of purely his talent and his work ethic, and now we are being told that he did take steroids. So for me individually, as a baseball player, and as someone who enjoys the game of baseball, it is still a shock to me.”

“I think when it’s admitted, you get it out of the way,” said A&M junior infielder Brodie Greene. “People are obviously not going to forget it. You admitted it, and you came out and told your side and that helps you. That’s why I think Bonds and [Roger] Clemens are going to end up hurting themselves in the long run because they are just denying it. I guess they are innocent until proven guilty. I feel that they are on the guilty side but haven’t really admitted it yet.”

Very few had expected A-Rod to cheat by using the banned substances, but he is admired for stepping forward and admitting it. No one knows really what the out come of this steroid era to those who are linked and involved with the use of PEDs, but one thing is for sure, A-Rod is facing a dim future in his baseball career.

The opening of the new season in less than a week and the MLB is bruised and battered of everything it has to deal with in the off-season. They barely had their rest from the controversies, they are now about to face the pressure of the ballgames. However, before they do so they have to pay attention, at the very least, to what the fans are saying. They have grown tired of the steroids talk and they want some action, pronto. Some excitement was stirred when the news about Alex Rodriguez and several other ball players got involved with performance enhancing drugs. It gave the fans and the media something to talk about for a while. But when it started to dominate the headlines longer than it should, baseball buffs are getting annoyed. They want the old baseball game back.

In a way, the MLB did their best to put the issue under control by imposing penalties on those who are caught on dope. The first offense gets a 50 game suspension, second offense-100 game suspension and a lifetime ban on the third offense.

From The Daily News:

Moving forward there needs to be and outrage – the kind being directed at the crooks who hijacked our economic system. In the end, the marauders who molested Wall St. are no different than professional athletes who use steroids; both are consumed by the money to be made when you toss the rules aside and are governed by nothing more than gluttony.

“Ban ‘em for the whole year,” Red Sox slugger David Ortiz said last month.

While Ortiz’s suggestion is a good start, MLB needs to be tougher than it has ever been before. Here’s what the new punishments should be: a first offense gets you a year ban; a second offense gets you banned for life. No exceptions.

Fay Vincent, who was commissioner in 1989-1992 said they are all working towards a lifetime ban for the offenders. That should make them think twice before they touch any of the banned substances.

The global financial crisis has hit the ballgames as well. A survey conducted by the Associated Press-Knowledge Networks showed the top result that fans found it expensive to watch baseball games these days. This is a rather dismal view especially with the season opening in less than a week. Not to mention that the major league has just come from a steroid controversy which involved its best players. Apparently all the issues in the MLB are stressing the fans out.

From The Associated Press:

That would make for a cheap seat at either of the two new ballparks opening in New York. At the $1.5 billion Yankee Stadium, a ticket in the lower deck between the bases goes for a minimum of $350 and tops out at $2,625.

At the Mets’ Citi Field, it’s $18 just to park.

The average ticket price in the majors was $25.43 last year — up 11.7 percent over the previous season, according to The Team Marketing Report. The 2009 cost hasn’t been determined, but the increases typically outpace the inflation rate.

MLB said two-thirds of the 30 teams lowered either their average ticket price or some level of seats. The Toronto Blue Jays went even further, offering a season ticket in the upper deck for $76 — less than $1 per game for all 81 home dates.

Next highest opinion of the fans in the survey is that players who are, or have been, involved in steroids should not be voted into the Hall of Fame. Fan Robert Moore of Clearwater Florida said that players who were into performance enhancing drugs shouldn’t even be recognized.

Third highest among the fan’s concerns is the exaggerated salaries that the players were getting. New York Yankees Mark Teixeira’s signing bonus was $181 million and CC Sabathia signed $161 million. This is comparable to a third world country’s national budget according to Margaret Costello. Sabathia remains nonchalant about this and just hopes that fans would still watch them this season.